Man, movement, message:

BY DALE ELLIS   

Managing Editor    21 Jan 2003

More than 200 people attended a program to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the slain civil rights worker, at Searcy's Carmichael Community Center. The program, sponsored by the Kensett Civic Awareness Club, was centered around a speech given by Viola Moore-Smith entitled "The Essence of the Man."

Smith, a retired teacher, said that she was there to offer up a history lesson concerning King, the man, the movement, and the message.

"The man is why we're gathered here tonight," Smith told the assembly, as she outlined three revolutions in American history; The American Revolution, The Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement.

The American Revolution, she said, was fought to achieve independence from Great Britain, a goal that was attained.

The Civil War, which began after several states seceded from the Union, resulted in the end of slavery, which until that time had been a cornerstone of the agrarian economy of the south.

"This war was fought over the enslavement of human beings of African descent," Smith said. "And it ended with the eradication of human slavery."

The Civil Rights movement, which Smith noted began in 1954 and ended in 1968, was a mostly non-violent protest over discriminatory laws and practices. It culminated with the removal of the "Jim Crow" laws which had institutionalized racial inequality in the U.S.

Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, became a spokesperson for the movement, emerging as a major civil rights leader in the late 1950s, and staying at the forefront of the movement until his death from an assassin's bullet in 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

Smith said that King's message, "that we will get what we rightfully deserve with our heads and not our hands," is as valid today as when King headed the civil rights movement.

She urged the crowd not to linger in regrets, but to move forward.

"We all have some regrets about the past," she said, "but some of us are like Charlie Brown. We're still hoping that yesterday will get better."

Smith's husband, the Reverend Rodrick Smith, pastor of St. John's Baptist Church in Augusta, introduced his wife and spoke of the courage that it took to face down the mobs at the height of the civil rights movement. He said that King's message was not new, but was timeless.

"It took courage to stand up and tell folks it ain't right to do wrong," he said. "God is still looking for people with courage to grab onto Martin Luther King's coattails and to tell folks, when you're wrong, you're wrong."

The program began with the recitation of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which he originally delivered in Washington D.C. in 1963 during one of the largest peaceful demonstrations ever held in the nation's capital.

An Army National Guard color guard presented the flags of Arkansas and the U.S. as The Star Spangled Banner was played, followed by "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the Negro National Anthem was sung by the crowd, led by the White County Federated Choir.

Searcy Mayor Belinda LaForce welcomed the crowd, stating that the occasion was the time to celebrate the life of a special American. She urged the assembly to look to the future, encourage change, to stand firm, and to work together to bring about a world based on equality.

"We're a city," she said, "but we're also a community that cares about one another."

LaForce pointed to the city's Character First program as a commitment to instill character in the city, it's citizens, and it's children.

"God has blessed us," she said.

Following the program of music and reflections on King's life, awards were presented to a number of people for service in their area churches, and the city and county officials present were acknowledged.

The program closed with the song, "We Shall Overcome," long considered to be the anthem of the civil rights movement.

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